KayfabeMan
11-03-2005, 09:37 PM
OK, so no one ever talks about tag team wrestling anymore. In my opinion, I only see a few solid tag teams out there today [The Dudleys, The Rock and Roll Express, The Midnight Express, The Power Company Twinz and a couple of others], and they are more on their way out than on their way in. Shame really, considering that tag wrestling used to draw BIG money.
Not going back before the 1980's, just from then to now, we've had so many great teams that drew money. LOD, New Age Outlaws, The Nasty Boys, The Outsiders, The Steiner Brothers, The Headshrinkers, Billy Gunn & Chuck Palumbo, The Quebecers, Harlem Heat, Public Enemy, Money Inc., and ones that I've mentioned above - in addition to dozens of others. Now, next to nothing.
So here, I've decided to list MY top 10 favorite tag team performers. These are not to reflect my top 10 tag teams, just the top 10 performers who, in my opinion, stood out as being special - while also being known more for their work in tag team wrestling [except for one, but I've explained him]. They are also in no particular order, as I couldn't possibly rank them.
And here they are:
*Arn Anderson always had great matches, especially in tag situations. I liked him in every team he was part of: The Minnesota Wrecking Crew, The Brainbusters, The Enforcers, The Dangerous Alliance, The Stud Stable, etc. Multiple time Tag Team Champion, and was an excellent performer no matter who he was tagged with. Great accomplishments singularly as well, but really showed a great deal of psychology in his tag matches. Awesome talent.
*Beauregarde was a real heat machine up in the Pacific Northwest Territory. He drew crowds like crazy, and he always was over. Put on great singles matches, and A+ tag matches with various partners like Dutch Savage, "Moondog" Mayne, and others. Captured the PNW Tag Team Championship belts a few times as well. All around great worker, and was the perfect guy to give the hot tag to. Had an awesome mind for the business, and perfect psychology - especially in tag matches. Singles success all over the world too, proving he could hold his own.
*Bobby Eaton is completely excellent. I can't say enough good about him. With Stan Lane. With Dennis Condrey. With Arn Anderson. With Steve Keirn. With Steven Regal. Always fun to watch, and always got the job done as an A+ performer. Several Tag Team Championship runs, and also excelled as a singles performer - winning some gold here and there.
*Stan Lane, to me, is everything a tag team performer should be. Great on the mic, great wrestler, great charisma, and the perfect understanding of how a tag match works. Great with Eaton, great with Condrey, great with Tom Pritchard as The Heavenly Bodies. Also, formed a great team with Bryan St. John in Florida for a period of time, and who can forget The Fabulous Ones with Steve Keirn?? Stan can still go, even in his 50's.
*Billy Gunn is one of my favorites, and definitely one of the best tag workers out there. He formed highly-successful teams with Bart Gunn, Road Dogg, Chuck Palumbo, and to an extent - Bob Holly. Also, a not so successful team with Big Show, but he managed to lug Show around for a while. 10-time Tag Team Champion, plus good success as a singles talent, winning Hardcore and IC Titles, and The King of The Ring. Good performer, always stays in great shape, and really, really gets how a tag match works. Reminds me of Stan Lane in his younger days.
*Marty Jannetty manages to stand out as one of my favorite tag performers, and certainly should be on a list of great tag wrestlers. Everyone remembers him from The Rockers, of course, with Shawn Michaels - but he also teamed with Sean Waltman, Bob Brown and Tommy Rogers, winning Titles with them as well. Was a solid singles performer as well, winning several singles Belts in the process of his career. I enjoyed him in WWF / WWE, WCW, NWA and ECW. He also had a good run in AWA, and some fantastic indy matches that I've had the pleasure of seeing. I have honestly never seen a bad performance out of this guy.
*Mr. Fuji is totally awesome. Very smart guy, who played his character very well, and had his in-ring psychology down like nobody's business. Worked a lot with one of my others here, Beauregarde, early in both of their careers. Captured Tag Team gold in numerous places, including WWF - where he tagged with Mr.Saito and Toru Tanaka - and also many versions of the NWA Tag Titles. All together he's held nearly 20 Tag Team Championships. Was always over, and worked extremely hard. Great manager too, managing his fair share of, fittingly, tag teams like Demolition, Powers of Pain, Orient Express, etc. Also, he was fairly successful on his own, winning a few belts and definitely putting on good matches. A great overall talent.
*Johnny Barend. What can I say that would really be fitting of this guy, except that his accomplishments are too many to list. Tagged with SO many people, and was a very excellent performer. Ripper Collins, Jim Hady, Sandor Kovacs, Hans Mortier, Buddy Rogers, and a bunch of others were partners of his. Nearly a dozen or so Title wins in tag bouts, and knew how to work the crowd both as a face and heel. Could wrestle on his own as well, and was one of the bigger name performers both in Hawaii and New York. Truly a legend.
*Owen Hart. In my opinion, tremendous singles wrestler, and excellent tag team wrestler. With his brother, Yokozuna, Bulldog, Jeff Jarrett, Jim Neidhart, or Koko B. Ware - he was always awesome and knew how to feed off of the crowd to get the most out of a tag bout. Liked all of his teams, and he definitely deserved his few Tag Title runs. Of course, he will always be remembered as a singles worker, but I believe that his excellent tag work should not be overlooked.
*Tony Garea. OK WWE, you have this guy under contract to this day, and have never even made a legends figure of him. WTF? Total bullcrap. The guy was a great performer, and is certainly one of the most memorable tag wrestlers WWF ever had. He formed teams with Dean Ho, Haystacks Calhoun, Larry Zbyszko, Pat Patterson and Rick Martel - and all of the teams won Tag Team gold [4 in WWE, and one in California - that was Patterson]. Six-time Tag Team Champion total, and had some great, great matches and feuds. Shame that he is not shown more respect, as he also has a good mind for the business.
These guys span from the 1960's to today, so I've covered basically everyone that I have seen, rather than just heard about.
I also have to send some honorable mentions to a few other performers. Bret Hart, Steve Austin, British Bulldog, Dr. Tom Pritchard, Buff Bagwell and Mr. Dutch Savage all belong there as well. All had different abilities of course, but excelled at performing in numerous successful teams - and were entertaining in their own respective ways.
That's just my take, and I hope that others will share their thoughts on their favorite tag performers or tag teams, and opinions on tag team wrestling in general - both today and back in the past.
Not going back before the 1980's, just from then to now, we've had so many great teams that drew money. LOD, New Age Outlaws, The Nasty Boys, The Outsiders, The Steiner Brothers, The Headshrinkers, Billy Gunn & Chuck Palumbo, The Quebecers, Harlem Heat, Public Enemy, Money Inc., and ones that I've mentioned above - in addition to dozens of others. Now, next to nothing.
So here, I've decided to list MY top 10 favorite tag team performers. These are not to reflect my top 10 tag teams, just the top 10 performers who, in my opinion, stood out as being special - while also being known more for their work in tag team wrestling [except for one, but I've explained him]. They are also in no particular order, as I couldn't possibly rank them.
And here they are:
*Arn Anderson always had great matches, especially in tag situations. I liked him in every team he was part of: The Minnesota Wrecking Crew, The Brainbusters, The Enforcers, The Dangerous Alliance, The Stud Stable, etc. Multiple time Tag Team Champion, and was an excellent performer no matter who he was tagged with. Great accomplishments singularly as well, but really showed a great deal of psychology in his tag matches. Awesome talent.
*Beauregarde was a real heat machine up in the Pacific Northwest Territory. He drew crowds like crazy, and he always was over. Put on great singles matches, and A+ tag matches with various partners like Dutch Savage, "Moondog" Mayne, and others. Captured the PNW Tag Team Championship belts a few times as well. All around great worker, and was the perfect guy to give the hot tag to. Had an awesome mind for the business, and perfect psychology - especially in tag matches. Singles success all over the world too, proving he could hold his own.
*Bobby Eaton is completely excellent. I can't say enough good about him. With Stan Lane. With Dennis Condrey. With Arn Anderson. With Steve Keirn. With Steven Regal. Always fun to watch, and always got the job done as an A+ performer. Several Tag Team Championship runs, and also excelled as a singles performer - winning some gold here and there.
*Stan Lane, to me, is everything a tag team performer should be. Great on the mic, great wrestler, great charisma, and the perfect understanding of how a tag match works. Great with Eaton, great with Condrey, great with Tom Pritchard as The Heavenly Bodies. Also, formed a great team with Bryan St. John in Florida for a period of time, and who can forget The Fabulous Ones with Steve Keirn?? Stan can still go, even in his 50's.
*Billy Gunn is one of my favorites, and definitely one of the best tag workers out there. He formed highly-successful teams with Bart Gunn, Road Dogg, Chuck Palumbo, and to an extent - Bob Holly. Also, a not so successful team with Big Show, but he managed to lug Show around for a while. 10-time Tag Team Champion, plus good success as a singles talent, winning Hardcore and IC Titles, and The King of The Ring. Good performer, always stays in great shape, and really, really gets how a tag match works. Reminds me of Stan Lane in his younger days.
*Marty Jannetty manages to stand out as one of my favorite tag performers, and certainly should be on a list of great tag wrestlers. Everyone remembers him from The Rockers, of course, with Shawn Michaels - but he also teamed with Sean Waltman, Bob Brown and Tommy Rogers, winning Titles with them as well. Was a solid singles performer as well, winning several singles Belts in the process of his career. I enjoyed him in WWF / WWE, WCW, NWA and ECW. He also had a good run in AWA, and some fantastic indy matches that I've had the pleasure of seeing. I have honestly never seen a bad performance out of this guy.
*Mr. Fuji is totally awesome. Very smart guy, who played his character very well, and had his in-ring psychology down like nobody's business. Worked a lot with one of my others here, Beauregarde, early in both of their careers. Captured Tag Team gold in numerous places, including WWF - where he tagged with Mr.Saito and Toru Tanaka - and also many versions of the NWA Tag Titles. All together he's held nearly 20 Tag Team Championships. Was always over, and worked extremely hard. Great manager too, managing his fair share of, fittingly, tag teams like Demolition, Powers of Pain, Orient Express, etc. Also, he was fairly successful on his own, winning a few belts and definitely putting on good matches. A great overall talent.
*Johnny Barend. What can I say that would really be fitting of this guy, except that his accomplishments are too many to list. Tagged with SO many people, and was a very excellent performer. Ripper Collins, Jim Hady, Sandor Kovacs, Hans Mortier, Buddy Rogers, and a bunch of others were partners of his. Nearly a dozen or so Title wins in tag bouts, and knew how to work the crowd both as a face and heel. Could wrestle on his own as well, and was one of the bigger name performers both in Hawaii and New York. Truly a legend.
*Owen Hart. In my opinion, tremendous singles wrestler, and excellent tag team wrestler. With his brother, Yokozuna, Bulldog, Jeff Jarrett, Jim Neidhart, or Koko B. Ware - he was always awesome and knew how to feed off of the crowd to get the most out of a tag bout. Liked all of his teams, and he definitely deserved his few Tag Title runs. Of course, he will always be remembered as a singles worker, but I believe that his excellent tag work should not be overlooked.
*Tony Garea. OK WWE, you have this guy under contract to this day, and have never even made a legends figure of him. WTF? Total bullcrap. The guy was a great performer, and is certainly one of the most memorable tag wrestlers WWF ever had. He formed teams with Dean Ho, Haystacks Calhoun, Larry Zbyszko, Pat Patterson and Rick Martel - and all of the teams won Tag Team gold [4 in WWE, and one in California - that was Patterson]. Six-time Tag Team Champion total, and had some great, great matches and feuds. Shame that he is not shown more respect, as he also has a good mind for the business.
These guys span from the 1960's to today, so I've covered basically everyone that I have seen, rather than just heard about.
I also have to send some honorable mentions to a few other performers. Bret Hart, Steve Austin, British Bulldog, Dr. Tom Pritchard, Buff Bagwell and Mr. Dutch Savage all belong there as well. All had different abilities of course, but excelled at performing in numerous successful teams - and were entertaining in their own respective ways.
That's just my take, and I hope that others will share their thoughts on their favorite tag performers or tag teams, and opinions on tag team wrestling in general - both today and back in the past.